Waitlisted at Ross

I got WLed at Ross and with this I am at cross roads in my decision making.

Ross is my top choice school owing to my inclinations to consulting and entrepreneurship. Ross has a strong consulting program and its highly reputed for entrepreneurship and research institutes. As per my understanding, wrt to the cultures, I believe Duke and Ross have similar cultures. Duke being more student driven and friendlier culture than Ross. All said, I would choose Ross over Duke if I get admitted.

Ross would release its waitlist decisions by May-15th (Yeah thats really really late). I need to send in the Duke acceptance and initial deposit by Apr-15th. As I am an international student, I also have to worry about the long drawn visa process, relocation and stuff. My prospective Duke classmates have already started finalizing accomodation and roommates. I should get started on my loan process for Duke by May. I am seriously considering mailing Ross Adcom about my Duke admit and requesting them to release my decisions early. Although, I know this would not be practically possible and I also wonder if it stupid and unwise to do so. But this is my best bet else I have to forget about Ross whatever be the case..

Also folks who have experience with waitlists, please share your experiences and suggestions on what to do and not to do to convert a waitlist..

Aside from all this, I received an interview invite from Cornell today much much after the R3 decisions have been announced :D. Cornell hadnt completed reviewing a part of the applications by the decision date. So most of them got their decisions on the R3 decision date while the unfortunate ones are as good as R4 applicants. Crazy stuff. Their mail also seems to suggest that they provide only on-campus interviews..

Got Admitted to Duke!

I have been wanting to make this post since I started my app journey.
Finally, today I get a chance to.
I am all excited and happy! My first admit and Duke is a great place to be in.
I have no words right now and it hasnt sunk in as yet.

The thought of going over the app process yet another time and not going anywhere this Fall has been haunting me since long. I am glad all that is put to rest now.
Yippeeee...
Thanks to my fellow bloggers for all the support and encouragement!
(Not inspired by Oscars or anything :D)
Good luck to all those awaiting decisions! :)

Interview Invite from Ross

In an unexpected turn of events, I got an interview invite from Ross today.
After 2 dings, All hope is not lost! :)
Could any R1 and R2 Ross applicants share their interview experiences?
What can I expect in a Ross interview?

Dinged from GSB and Kellogg

Hmm, officially denied from both the M7 schools I applied..
I guess my GSB app wasnt upto the mark. It was a last minute decision and I didnt put too much thought into it..Just did what I felt right. It seemed decent to my reviewers though :-S
However my Kellogg app. I had worked on that app for more than a month. It was my last app and I had applied all the learnings from the other submissions into it. The least I expected was an interview call. My interview was waived off even before my R2 app submission and then I got dinged. :(

Duke telephonic interview

I am updating this blog after real long. I wasnt away from the blogosphere. But there wasnt too much to update about. I applied to six schools and not having heard from anyone of them, I was going through this cycle of apprehensions and disappointments. I have seen many of them who are in the same boat and others who have received invites from their target schools. I am real sure that this one of the toughest phases in the application cycle. Keeping the hope and not letting self-doubt creep in.

The only update so far has been receiving an telephonic interview invite from Duke. I had requested an alumni interview from Duke. And they have scheduled an telephonic interview - kind of videoconference (with Skype and Webcam..not sure if anyone else has such an interview experience. If so pls share your inputs). Its something good. However Duke interviews most of its applicant pool, (the on-campus interview is for all, only the alumni interviews are by invitation) I am not sure where I stand.

All I can do now is prepare well for the interview and do my best!

Folks, wish me luck

I received valuable inputs from Achilles and Mbabound on interview prep. Thanks a ton!
Anyone else in the blogosphere who is interviewing with Duke for R2?

Lessons learnt in last minute app submission

Today I submitted 3 apps (Darden / Duke / Ross ) at one go and it was nothing short of a marathon.
I filled the applications forms in a frenzied pace and completed them with less than 1/2 hour to the deadline.

I learnt many important lessons in the process.
1) Application Forms - although I have read posts saying people overlook it, I never imagined it would be this difficult, the number of forms, the weirdness of questions and beyond all that it takes so many hours to fill them. I had assumed it would take max 1-2 hours. But I ended up spending more than 4 hours on some schools.
Lesson: Don't underestimate the effort or time for Appln forms

2) As an addendum to the first part, the application form might have some essay questions that you have known earlier. In my case, I weaved the Darden fit in my Essay1 only to realize that the application form had a specific question of fit at the last minute. I had to rework both my essays with just an hour for the deadline.
Lesson: Don't leave the appln forms for the last. Its better to go through it earlier to get an idea of what is required.

3) Recommenders not showing up at the last minute - One of my recommenders was on long vacation and promised to get things done by Dec 31. But he was still working on the draft version on Jan 2nd and on Jan 3rd night he was asking me for examples to fill for the questions and I spent solid 2 hours on discussions with him. I had regularly followed it up with him to the extent of not forcing him. Gave him all the relevant data sheets. I am not sure what I could have done better other than more persuasion
Lesson: Hmmmm...Don't trust their words, get things done. Be more proactive.

To add to the long list of problems, I had formatting problems with my essay questions and resume.
The kind of tensions I went through is unexplainable. I was worried that so many weeks of effort on essays would go in vain due to my careless mistakes. Neways, All is well that ends well. I am glad I managed to submit everything in the nick of time.
Hope the adcoms like my essays!

Another marathon week lies ahead as I plan to target Chicago and Kellogg essays from the scratch. (Poor time management or whatever you could call it :( )

Good luck to all the fellow applicants applying in R2 and Yeah remember to get stuff other than essays also in place earlier!

Introspect with Kellogg Essays!

When I was suggested by fellow applicants and others to introspect to get started with my essays, I found it tough. I could tabulate all that I have achieved, both small and big through my life. But I failed to find the connection and relate things.

Midway through Ross essays, a friend of mine and a fellow applicant suggested that her Kellogg essays were the best and it helped bring out her true self. I am glad, I heeded to her suggestion and got started with Kellogg essays. These essays are pretty long and time consuming and hence was planning to keep it to the last. But the fact remains that once you are through them, the rest of the essays are managable.
Although I have just about started with the Kellogg essays, I am already thinking and yeah introspecting :-D

So all those folks who are struggling to get started with their essays, take a look at the Kellogg essays (Ofcourse, if you intend to apply to the school). If not write them, thinking about them will help you get started!

Good luck to all fellow applicants!

ROSS Essays - Alternate profession

Ross essays have very stringent word limitiations. Compressing all your thoughts and passions in 300 words is way too difficult..

I am stuck with one of ROSS's essays about the alternate profession. I know what I would like to do, but I am confused what and how to express in just 300 words. Do I write about how I came to like that profession or why I am passionate about that or what I would I do in that profession. Ideally I would like express all the three. But it is simply impossible to sound convincing and substantiate your statements in such a short essay..
Suggestions plssssssssss???????

The second part of the question asks "how the alternate profession will help solve multidisciplinary problems". What are multidisciplinary problems in the first place and what is that the adcom expects?
This is also within the 300 word limit! Phew...

What did fellow ROSS applicants do?

Miles to go before I sleep...

My first app and it seems quite a struggle. Time and again when I have discussed with people about my MBA plans, I was always told that GMAT is the easiest part of the whole thing, the apps drain you out thorougly and is the most difficult part. Although I didnt ignore their warnings, I truly underestimated the effort needed to achieve it. I was of the opinion that essays required spending 2-3 hours every day writing and rewriting stuff. As a part of the process you would introspect, reach out to students in the schools, peruse websites and forums. It didnt seem that difficult before i took the plunge. I thought 2 months post GMAT is a good amount of time to do justice to the 5 apps I planned.

Its 2 weeks since then and I barely have started. Infact I am rewriting my first essay (career goals essay) from the scratch undoing the mess I created with it.I went about it in a very organized manner. I religiously read all possible resources (clearadmit, gyan from the gurus, blogs of fellow applicants). I completed few relevant chapters of Richard Montauk as well. I created a Fact file, as recommended by Juggler in her post, listing out all the things and events I have been involved in the past 10 years. I have a lot of data, but in a form that makes no sense. And making this info sound like a compelling story is easier said than done. When I write my essays I see a disconnect in the content. It all seems a set of events or facts. They dont blend into one another. I am trying hard to make them do and there is hardly any progress. Having spent 2 weeks and not getting a single essay into shape, the road ahead seems tough.

Does everyone go thro' this phase?
Most of the fellow bloggers I interact have successfully crossed the R1 milestone and arechurning out essays for R2. Is there anyone who has started his/her essays recently
and is in the same boat?

And there is one advice I get from everyone. Introspect. Does that mean know yourself well? or Does that mean knowing your life in and out?

I know that the first app is the most difficult one and later on things will move at a faster pace. Hope to get past this phase soon..

Re-thinking on Schools

I am interested to pursue a career in Strategy and Consulting or General Mgmt post MBA. Based on my career preferences, I had decided to apply to these 5 schools prior to GMAT.
1. Wharton
2. Chicago
3. Ross
4. Darden
5. Duke.

I got just about a decent score in GMAT and was contemplating retaking it. But with 2 months to go and deadlines of schools for R2 in Jan, I decided against it. I have decided to work hard on my apps to offset for my not so good GMAT score (700). Yet, to get my AWA scores.

I have been thinking of dropping some top schools and choosing some lower ranked schools.

The choices I have been considering are Emory, McCombs, Tepper.

With less than 2 months to go, I would not be able to do more than 5 schools. Now, I am in dilemma of which ones to drop and which ones to choose??

Any suggestions??